Frequently Asked Questions about Moneydance

This is the old FAQ, you probably want to look at the new more comprehensive FAQ. That is here.

What is the difference between the Trial version and the Licensed version of Moneydance?

You can download the Trial version for free to see if Moneydance is right for you. It is identical to the Licensed version, except you are limited to 100 manually-entered transactions. Downloaded and imported transactions are unlimited. When you purchase the Licensed version, you receive an email from BMT Micro with a registration key. Entering this will turn the Trial version into the Licensed version without altering any of the data you have already entered.

How can I transfer my data from Quicken or Money into Moneydance?

It is actually very easy to convert from Quicken or MS Money to Moneydance. In order to transfer your data, follow these steps:

Export your data from Quicken or Money into a QIF file. This can usually be done by selecting the File->Export menu in Quicken or Money. Make sure to export all accounts and transactions to the QIF file(s).

In Moneydance, select the File->Import->QIF menu and select the QIF file(s) that you exported from Quicken. Make sure that you select the From Another Application option in the QIF import window. If you are importing a QIF file that was generated outside the USA, you may have to select a specific date format rather than the "automatic" option.

After the QIF files are imported, there are sometimes duplicate transactions (usually investment, or split transfers) that Moneydance is unable to automatically eliminate. These should be fairly easy to eliminate manually by searching for transfer transactions and identifying the ones with the same (or similar) dates and amounts.

What if I have lost my registration key, or I did not receive my registration key from BMT Micro?

Email support@moneydance.com will the full name of the person who made the purchase and we will send you an email with your registration key.

Can I import my GnuCash data?

At this point, Moneydance cannot import GnuCash data directly. The easiest way, if possible, is to export your data from GnuCash into a QIF file and import that file using the File->Import->QIF menu in Moneydance.

Another option is to use the migrate.pl perl script written by the very talented Sid Reed to export your GnuCash data from a PostgreSQL database to an XML file that can be opened directly by Moneydance. For details on using this script, see the comments at the beginning of the migrate.pl file.

There are also several additional options:

Users familiar with the Python scripting language can use the Python extension to Moneydance to write a script that reads the GnuCash XML data file and adds the accounts and transactions to Moneydance.

If your GnuCash data is not too complex you can export your data from GnuCash into a tab or comma-delimited text file that can be imported by the text file importer extension to Moneydance.

Write a program that converts a GnuCash XML file into a QIF file that can be imported directly into Moneydance

Does Moneydance allow for assigning 'classes' to transactions?

Yes, but in Moneydance they are called 'tags' and you can apply multiple tags to each transaction. In order to edit your list of available tags, click the Tools->Edit Transaction Tags menu. You can then select tags for transactions using the popup field in the transaction edit form.

My bank does not appear in the list of financial institutions in the "Setup Online Banking" window. How can I connect to them?

Moneydance can connect to financial institutions that allow direct connections to their services via the OFX protocol. If your bank is not listed in the list of available financial institutions, please send an email to support@moneydance.com to see if it is possible to connect to them. Banks that do not support direct connections usually provide web-based downloads of transactions/statements from their web site. Moneydance can import virtually any type of downloadable transaction file, including QIF, OFC and OFX/QFX.

How do I move a transaction to a different account?

A transaction can be moved from one account to another by taking the following steps:

Select the transaction in the account from which the transaction will be moved

Select the "Actions" button at the bottom left corner of the transaction editor, and click "Show Other Side" in the popup menu

The "other side" of the transaction will be displayed in a transaction editor. Change the Account/Category field in that transaction editor to switch the "head" of the transaction to the desired bank, investment, or credit card account.

Note: This procedure will not work with a transaction containing splits.

How do I reconcile a Credit Card account?

contributed by Barbara Needham

Step by Step basic instructions for reconciling credit card account.

First, get everything in your register that is on your credit card statement. You can do this in several ways:

Entering the amount and name of the thing you buy in your credit card register when you buy it. It really is easier to categorize this way. However, I'm not very good at doing this.

Copying the item list off of your credit card statement.

Lumping everything in one category such as "clothing" and putting in the total amount.

Downloading your credit card statement and letting Moneydance enter everything in your credit card register. If stuff is already in there, it will match it; if nothing is in there it will just add it.

Now that you have all the stuff in there, including any finance charges, you can reconcile.

Two Ways:

If your credit card statement is not too long or complicated, you can just go down the list and put a green check mark on everything that is on your statement. The amount in the balance column when you are done should be the balance on your statement. This works if there are no skipped items in between the checked items.

To use the Action/Reconcile; First find the top action button and choose "Reconcile."

Your credit card statement will have an amount on it that says "previous balance." This is the same as the previous balance that should be in the box that comes up when you choose reconcile.

Current balance which will be zero when the box comes up, you need to enter from your credit card statement. This will be a POSITIVE number on your credit card statement because WE owe THEM but you should enter a NEGATIVE number in the space that asks for your current balance. Unless you have a credit balance, showing with a minus sign in front of it on your credit card statement, then you enter a positive number.

When you choose OK then this pop up will disappear and a box will come up that shows charges on one side and payments on the other side. You tap on each item that is on your statement, this will put a diamond by each one. Watch the bottom "difference". When all the items on your statement are checked off, this should be 0. If not, you may have to "edit" or add a "new" transaction. When the difference is zero, you are done, and can check "done."

This will change all the diamonds to checks and you are ready to SAVE your file and go on to the next thing.

How can I edit the items that show up in the "Check#" list (i.e., CkCrd, Dep, Trn, etc.) ?

Go into the "Account/Category List" (via the menu item "Tools"->"Account/Category List" or use the link on your front page assuming you haven't removed it), make sure "My Finances" or whatever you renamed it to is highlighted and then click on the "Edit" button at the bottom of the window.

or

While looking at the Home Page, select the menu item "Account"->"Edit". This shortcut lets you edit whatever account you're focused on.

How can I add extra principal payments to a Mortgage?

This question was taken from the email list archive and there appear to be two answers. The first option is to record the transaction as normal and then add a split that goes to the loan with the extra principal amount. The second option is to add the extra principal to mortgage amount. In either case, MoneyDance should handle all the hard stuff, such as calculating your next payment correctly, adjusting the remaining number of payments, and anything else.

Can you change the word "Check" to "Cheque" anywhere in the programme?

You can change Check to Cheque (and other similar changes) by selecting the English (UK) locale in the General tab of the Preferences window.

Can I set a Starting Balance for my checking/savings/etc. Account?

Once you've opened an account register by clicking on it in the home screen, you can select Account->Edit from the main menu bar which will bring up a popup window of account properties. One of these is "Beginning Balance" and is the field where you can enter the balance without creating a "false" transaction.

Is Moneydance compatible with major (or minor) tax programs?

Moneydance is not directly compatible with any tax programs, however you can use the TXF export extension available from the following URL to export your data to a file that can be used by TXF-compatible applications such as TurboTax. To get the TXF export extension, please email support@moneydance.com as the extension is still in a "beta" release mode.

How do I restore from a backup?

Moneydance can be set up to save backup files, which are just regular .md save fiels with the file extension "chopped off" to keep you from confusing them with your regular files. To open such a backup file, simply rename it so it ends with .md and you'll be able to access your transaction history as it existed in MD at the time of the backup

I imported (or created) a new account, and now I've noticed that it's listed in Moneydance as a Bank account rather than a Credit Card account (or vice versa). How can I change an account's type after it's been created?

the type of an account can be changed after being created in Moneydance by following these steps:

1) Export your data to an XML file using the File->Export menu and choosing the Moneydance XML option.

2) Edit the exported file in a text editor. Search for the name of your account and you should see a section like this:

4) Open the edited file in Moneydance by selecting the File->Open menu and choosing the XML file. Note: The file may need to have the ".xml" extension in order for Moneydance to be able to open it.

I am trying to setup online banking. When I connect for the first time, I am prompeted to enter a new password/PIN, and there is an arbitrary-seeming limit of 8 characters in the new password? This did not happen when I was connecting from another application such as Quicken of MSMoney.

The OFX servers for some banks (SunTrust for example) include a flag that indicates that customers must change their PIN the first time they connect. Some servers enforce this so Moneydance must also. It is a security requirement because these banks usually mail the customer a temporary PIN that needs to be changed the first time they connect to the service.

If Quicken doesn't require that they change their PIN the first time you connect then either:

1) you were using web-connect in Quicken (rather than direct-connect) to download transactions, or

2) Quicken is connecting to a difference server/service for that bank

The OFX service to which Moneydance connects also specifies the minimum and maximum length of the PIN. If this is not the same as the customer's PIN, #1 above is most likely the case and you will have to use a different login/PIN for direct OFX banking from Moneydance.

I have RTFM, done some googling, and followed this list but was unable to find a clear definition of how the diamond character should work

contributed by Richard Hyde

Think of it like this, within Moneydance a transaction can be in one of three states, uncleared, cleared (indicated by the diamond) and reconciled (indicated by a green tick).

Which means each account has three balances :- an uncleared balance (all transactions), a cleared balance (cleared and reconciled transactions) and a reconciled balance (reconciled transactions only).

When you download/import your transactions from your bank you can mark the transactions as cleared by adding the diamond to the transaction, there are a number of people calling for Moneydance to do this automatically which we will hopefully see in the next release. Your cleared balance should then reflect your banks balance.

When the printed statement for the account arrives you can then reconcile these transactions via the reconcile process. You enter the ending balance from the statement and mark those transactions as cleared which appear on the statement. Any transactions marked as cleared from your download will be automatically marked as cleared when you start to reconcile. When you have completed your reconciliation and you click 'done' these cleared transaction are automatically switched to the reconciled state (green tick).

If you have no online access to see which transactions have cleared your account then you can leave the transactions as uncleared and when your statement arrives simply click on the cleared transactions from your statement during the reconciliation process. When you've completed the reconciliation the transactions will be marked with the green tick. The cleared state becomes pretty much irrelevent.

However you can still mark a transaction as cleared (diamond mark) when you know it has cleared from another source, say a mini statement from an ATM.

How can I import security, stock or mutual fund prices?

Moneydance imports stock prices from Yahoo! Stocks (finance.yahoo.com) using our Stock Price Updater extension. You can download this extension using the Extensions->Add... menu.

The Stock Updater will install itself as an icon in the upper right corner of the Moneydance window. Clicking on this will update the values of all the securities you've added to your investment accounts. The Updater looks up values based on the ticker symbol, so make certain that all your securities have been associated with the correct stock ticker symbol.

To associate a ticker symbol with a security, simply add the ticker to the "Ticker" field of the Edit Security window.

How can I do this from non-US stock exchanges?

To use a non-NYSE security listing, simply add the appropriate suffix to the end of the ticker symbol - for example, the Toronto exchange's suffix is ".TO"